AoP | B2 | Chapter 60: Spell Fusing (Patreon)

Seth once again hammered the giant creature with his fists, each blow landing with a dull thud against the stone. On the other side of its body, Nightmare tore at the Elemental as the corrosive smoke hissed while corroding the rock. Colossus did his best to hold the One-eyed Giant Elemental's attention and absorb its brutal blows. 

Seth felt the rising impatience from both his companions through Link; they wanted to use their Toughness-reducing spells, since at the moment they were like ants battering a mountain. Their efforts felt futile against the sheer scale and power of their foe, yet Seth held them back—despite his own core thrumming with a surge of energy he refused to unleash.

'We need to see more,' he said through their bond.

Both the scorpion and the direwolf grunted but complied.

For another few minutes, they wove through the probing attacks; without warning, the massive, boulder-like creature seemed to tire of their insignificant harassment and cast two spells in quick succession.

First came the familiar sight of Quartz Armor, the defensive ability rippling over the creature's body as earth, rock, and fractured crystal fused into a carapace that hardened its already fearsome defense. Then the Elemental's two massive arms twisted and reformed—stone flowed like molten clay until the limbs became giant maces coated jagged spikes.

The moment the transformation was done, the creature turned into a whirlwind of destruction. The newly formed weapons whooshed through the air, pulverizing everything in reach. Seth and Nightmare darted aside, barely staying ahead of the heavy blows, while Colossus had no choice but to summon his own Quartz Armor to meet the onslaught.

Just as Seth finally felt he had a full grasp of the creature's abilities and the rhythm of its attacks, the titan unveiled yet another spell. A shimmering aura ignited around its mace-like arms and flickered like unstable flames. Its subsequent attacks landed with even greater force, each impact rattling the cavern and sending out shockwaves. Those that connected on Colossus broke his Quartz Armor with ease, the hardened crystal fracturing like brittle glass under the strikes.

'We have to go all out now!' Nightmare exclaimed 'Little Bite won't hold much longer without Desert Aegis!'

‘No, no, I’m—’ 

Seth shook his head before the scorpion could finish. 'No, Nightmare's right. Let's kill that thing.'

'Finally!' Without waiting even a second, Nightmare cast Predator Hunt; the piercing howl rippled through the air before momentarily startling the titan. The next instant, he lunged forward and his fangs sank deep into the creature's Quartz Armor, which let the black smoke in his maw eat away at the crystalline shell. Seth's attack happened closely after, Dusk Scythes materializing along his forearms as he hacked relentlessly at the creature's armor, each slash sending chunks of enchanted stone clattering to the cavern floor.

Under their combined assault, the titan's defense crumbled. Its blazing eye turned away from Colossus and locked on the pair.

Then the titan stilled.

If it had a mouth, Seth could've sworn it was smirking. The next instant, its massive body began to shimmer, and the solid rock blazed with a molten glow before hardening into a layer of radiant golden armor. Seth's next strike glanced harmlessly off the surface, not even leaving a scratch. Nightmare's fangs also scraped against the shining shell as the creature stood there, immobilized by his own spell.

"Seriously?" Seth grunted, the frustration thick in his throat. 

This damned thing had turned invulnerable and was now making them waste precious time of Dusk Scythes and Predator's Hunt. After about a dozen agonizing seconds, the blinding glow faded, and the creature returned to its standard form.

Seth and Nightmare dove back in, though they landed only a few more attacks before Seth's Dusk Scythes dissipated and left the direwolf as their primary source of damage.

Seth cursed silently as another cold, calculating gleam—or what seemed like one—arose in the large creature's single eye. Quartz Armor flowed back over its body, followed immediately by the shimmering, unstable energy of the variant of Exploding Barrier.

Shit! It used that invulnerability to bait out our strongest spells, Seth cursed inwardly before realizing Colossus' Sandstorm was also still on cooldown. I'll have to use Phantom Punch to break this barrier fast enough—but that's an eighth of my Well just to stop one damn spell.

With no other option, Seth gritted his teeth and unleashed the Undead spell. The colossal, skeletal fist of teal aether coalesced around his arm as he drove his gauntlet into the creature's glowing barrier. The impact reverberated through the cavern as the spell tore into the brown layer of aether and devoured a large portion of it—but failed to break it completely.

On the other side, Nightmare seized the opportunity and lunged. The direwolf attacked with savage fury, tearing at the weakened barrier with the corrosive black smoke of his still-evolving Shadow Bite, also trying to shred through it as fast as possible. Seth followed with regular punches as the keeper swung down its stone arms to force them to dodge and lose precious seconds. Before they could shatter the shield, the barrier began to quiver again, pulsing with unstable energy. They weren't fast enough, even with all of that.

"Back off!" Seth shouted.

Sensing the imminent explosion, Colossus cast Desert Aegis. The layer of brown aether expanded outward, enveloping all three of them in its protective embrace just as the detonation hit.

For a second time, the cave became a maelstrom of heat, sound, and light. The explosion slammed into the scorpion's spell, which thankfully absorbed some of it before blasting Seth and Nightmare backward and sending them tumbling once again across the jagged cavern floor.

Seth's skin burned beneath his leather armor, and the searing pain left him gasping, though Nightmare's yelp cut through the ringing in his ears. Colossus had slid back several feet but remained standing. However, through Link, Seth could feel the scorpion's rage: the young beast felt he hadn't fully shielded them—he hadn't fulfilled his role.

Seth and Nightmare got back to their feet and charged the keeper once again, desperate to bring it down before it could cast the spell again. But before they'd even broken through half of the Quartz Armor, the creature's eye flared with blinding light that scorched the air. The mastodon then turned its burning gaze toward Nightmare, recognizing the greater threat.

The direwolf darted over to the right and used Shadow Step to blink away, the spell barely saving him from the beam that singed through stone and air alike. Panicked, he vanished with Illusionary Emptiness, yet the guardian's eye still somehow tracked his aetheric signature.

Don't you dare. 

Seth and Colossus immediately tried to grab their foe's attention.

The scorpion clicked his mandibles and let out Chitinous Taunt's piercing screech. The compulsion struck the massive Elemental—but only for a heartbeat. Ethereal chains appeared around its body… then snapped apart at their centers and dissolved into the air. Freed from the compulsion, the titan resumed locking its blazing eye on the fleeing direwolf.

Damn it, it's resisting everything!

With a booming roar, Seth unleashed Beastmaster Rage to boost Nightmare's Agility, then leapt forward, striking the creature while throwing himself between the guardian and the direwolf in a desperate attempt to draw its fire and intercept the beam. But the creature ignored him, its focus absolute.

The spell hit.

A strangled yelp tore through the cavern as the scorching light engulfed Nightmare. Bellowing, Seth pounded uselessly the guardian's side with his fist, all his offensive spells on cooldown. Colossus surged toward Nightmare, trying to shield him from the continued attack with his massive body. But by the time the scorpion reached the direwolf, the spell's duration ended and the beam faded away into motes of dying light. 

Nightmare collapsed behind the scorpion, smoke rising from his scorched fur, his body trembling. Seth and Colossus felt the waves of agonizing pain washing over the direwolf through their bond. 

Furious, and united in their need for revenge, Seth and the scorpion charged at the Elemental with everything they had. 

Their blows rained down on its stone form, chips flying, but the damage was merely superficial. The titan ignored their assault and began lumbering toward Nightmare while its arms morphed once more into giant, spiked maces. Colossus slammed violently into it, yet the explosive collision barely made it stagger. The scorpion then whipped his tails to strike the creature with Deathcoil Venom and sap away some of its defense and Strength.

Seth began channeling Phantom Punch once again, aether filling its grooves, when suddenly, the titan froze. Its stone body glinted, then transformed into a statue of unblemished gold for a second time.

"Shit!"

For a fleeting moment, Seth considered cutting the Undead spell short—dissipating the gathered aether before it surged—but the thought of wasting it all made his gut twist. This thing is toying with us.

As if answering his very thoughts, his core erupted inside his chest. Every strike, every spell—the creature shrugged them all off like a god humoring a child. That helplessness didn't belong to the predator destined to rise at the top of the food chains. It had no right to exist in his presence.

Not anymore.

His jaw ached from how hard it clenched, and instead of letting the aether dissipate, Seth forced it elsewhere, somewhere that would make it last: Iron Fists' grooves.

The spell's channel within his arms twisted violently, and Seth felt his core rip them apart as the teal and brown aether collided and intertwined with chaotic force. The web of trenches reshaped itself under the primal command of his inner beast.

He didn't know what he was creating—what abomination his instinct and fury were birthing—but he didn't resist. He yielded to it, letting the new power surge and flow.

A searing pain flared inside his arms, and Seth screamed. Agony and rage were equally present in the guttural sound that ripped from his throat. The world narrowed to that scorching sensation in his chest, the tearing of his spells' grooves as they bent under both Seth's and his core's will.

As the golden glow around the One-eyed Giant Elemental faded, the creature returned to its normal form and prepared its Exploding Barrier.

Colossus rushed in front of Nightmare, who was trying to stand up. Yet as the scorpion's eyes landed on Seth, he hesitated, clearly unsure whether or not to use Sandstorm Dome. 

A storm of energy exploded around Seth's body, teal and brown aether spiraling in a wild harmony. After a brief instant, the power gathered around his arms and turned into two skeletal limbs that mirrored Phantom Punch, yet radiated something entirely new.

Rune-etched plates of dark armor fused along the exterior of the ethereal bones, as if to protect them. The spell violently pulsed with a dark green hue that contained both the Undead and Earth affinity. Seth looked down at the spell, then charged without wasting a second.

Seemingly sensing something amiss, the giant creature swung one of its massive mace-arms in a wide, horizontal arc. Seth ducked beneath it, the wind of its passing whipping his hair, then drove his fist straight into the creature's glowing barrier.

The blow landed with bone-jarring force, sending a shockwave through the defensive barrier—yet this time the spectral, armored fist didn't vanish. Instead, it remained attached to Seth's arms, ready for more.

Without hesitation, Seth roared and hammered the creature. Each blow sent painful jolts up his arms, but he could feel it—the barrier faltering, the aetheric lattice trembling under the assault.

The energy from his new spell didn't just strike the protective layer of aether: it pierced it, plunging in and ripping it apart from the inside with each blow. Its eye widening, the giant Elemental desperately tried to swat him away, but Colossus surged forward and head-butted the titan's leg, buying precious seconds.

Seth's fists blurred, leaving trails of aether like meteors, and his roars echoed through the cavern. Break! Just break, damn it! 

The punches came faster, heavier, more desperate than the previous ones. The barrier spluttered like a dying flame and thinned—then, just as it was about to detonate, it vanished and dissolved into faint wisps.

With Colossus' Deathcoil Venom still active in the foe, Seth continued his onslaught. His gauntlets smashed the exposed and weakening rock again and again until large chunks began to fall from the creature's side. The titan let out a deep, grinding hiss, yet before it could retaliate, Colossus used Chitinous Taunt to draw its full attention, and this time it wasn't resisted. Desert Aegis, still pulsing around him, partly absorbed the brunt of the keeper's furious blows.

To Seth's surprise, Nightmare dashed up and unleashed Chain of Darkness despite still being hindered by the injury. A shadowy wolf burst from his maw, racing forward to pounce at the towering creature. It latched onto the titan's leg, tendrils of black energy coiling tight, sapping part of its Agility, and slowing its movements.

Seth seized the opening and redoubled his efforts, stone and dust flying with every brutal punch. The Elemental countered with thunderous blows, its mace-like arms crashing down on Colossus, each strike shaking the cavern. Through it all, the scorpion refused to yield—his shell cracked and dented, yet didn't break.

After a moment, the creature's single eye flared to life once more, blinding light swelling within it as it locked onto Seth this time. The air began to vibrate, searing energy condensing to a point.

Just as Seth crossed his arms to shield himself, he felt Nightmare's anger flare through the Link, followed by a sudden surge of aether coursing into Shadow Bite's grooves. This cast was different from the previous ones. The energy carried a deep hunger and purpose—a will to pierce and obliterate anything that stood in its path.

The cloud of dark smoke that erupted from direwolf's maw as he lunged wasn't large, though was intensely black, like an abyss that devoured any particle of light. The moment Nightmare sank his fangs into the creature's rock, the spell plunged inside in a concentrated stream of corrosive darkness that struck the guardian's chest. It devoured stone and aether alike, causing the giant golem-like creature to let out a high-pitched, agonized scream.

Its concentration shattered, the gathering energy dissipated, and its eye faded back to a dull glow.

Seth and Nightmare seized the opportunity to launch a perfectly synchronized assault. Seth rammed his fists into the guardian's crumbling form, while the direwolf ripped away huge chunks of stone with his new enhanced bites. Colossus, sensing the shift, also pressed on, his pincers crushing everything they could seize while casting Deathcoil Venom as soon as its cooldown ended. They attacked the titan from all sides, a desperate, three-pronged attack against the Silver-Tier beast.

But just as the tide finally seemed to turn in their favor, the giant creature threw its head back—or rather, tilted its massive eye skyward. Aether began to surge through its entire body in violent waves, each pulse brighter and faster, like a giant bomb.

Seth and Nightmare exchanged a frantic glance.

Almost simultaneously, they both used Shadow Step to appear beside Colossus as the scorpion threw up a second Sandstorm Dome. The giant Elemental let out a guttural roar, and a shockwave of destructive force exploded outward to slam into the scorpion's swirling barrier. Colossus poured more aether into the spell, the dome expanding, straining against the blast. For a heart-stopping moment, the two forces met in a deafening outcry, a clash of elemental power that shook the very foundations of the cavern before both finally nullified each other in a violent burst of energy.

The instant the shockwave died out, Seth and Nightmare charged back in. The dark green aether had faded from around Seth's arms, but Dusk Scythes, now off cooldown, flared back to life. The blades of condensed shadow carved deep gouges while Nightmare unleashed Mantle of Terror and Predator's Hunt in quick succession. The direwolf pounced and sank his fangs into the titan's hide, his evolved corrosive bite melting the stone like wax.

Rocks fell with each blow. The two fought as one—Seth's blades slashing in sweeping arcs and Nightmare's jaws ripping and tearing.

Fueled by rage, Seth pounced to bury his shadow-forged blades deep into the creature's chest before wrenching them sideways with every ounce of strength he had left. The Elemental's single eye flared wide in shock and its glow flickered erratically for the first time.

Slipping past a final, desperate swing of the creature, Nightmare dashed in and tore its side open with a savage bite. Shards of glowing stone scattered like dying embers, and for a heartbeat the colossal creature stood motionless, as if fighting the inevitable.

Its body then shuddered, and fractures spiderwebbed across it. A deafening crack split the air, and a second later its towering form broke apart into a mountain of lifeless rock.

Seth stood there, his chest heaving. His gaze landed first on Nightmare, who was still trembling from the injuries, then on Colossus, whose shell was now marred by deep fissures.

A breath escaped Seth's lips—half a weary sigh, half a laugh.

They'd won.